From Morning to Evening, What a Fine Birthday

Today started early--I was on the porch at dawn, hoping to see that moment when, as my friend Dianne Hackworth reminded me, the sun stands still. But fog and clouds hid old Sol from my view--and that was all right because the rain last night was most welcome.

We left at 8am to go back to the West Virginia Folk Festival for a second day in the Oral Traditions Tent. We were there yesterday for my performance time in the tent. It was hot, hot, hot, but the audience was pretty cool and into the stories, poems and ballads I shared.

For the past few years, the festival has occurred on my birthday weekend so I am usually there and not having cake and ice cream at home. It's well worth it to hear such good stories and poems and to see people I may not see again for months, and to be surrounded by music and crafts in a small community nestled in the West Virginia hills (and home to the state song by that name).

 Two friends collaborated to surprise me this year with not just a cake, but a cake topped with a fizzing sparkler! What fun that was! I am still smiling from the surprise and laughter of that moment.

The cake was mighty good too. We shared pieces with everyone in the tent, a sweet treat on the first day of summer.

A highlight this year was Kirk Judd's presentation of poems in his new book, My People Was Music. Kirk doesn't read his poetry, he performs it, and his poems tell stories--stories of mountain hikes, of heritage and music, of friends and family and life in these hills. Not all easy words, but all worth hearing. The tent was full to capacity and beyond for his performance. Afterwards we visited with a fiddle player from Cincinnati who told me a few ghost stories. He was curious about the story behind the name of the small community of Burnt House, so I told him the story of the murders and the supposed appearance of the girl who burned to death in a fire there (a story you can find on my CD, Beyond the Grave).

I visited the historic Holt House to see a fellow Two Lane Livin' writer, Karen Pennebaker. While there I toured the house--built in 1901, the same time period as the house I grew up in, it had much of the same woodwork and trim. I especially loved the kitchen, though, with its "border" of aprons. What a fun way to display them.

I had another reason for my visit to Holt House--lemon ammonia cookies! They are delicious, and I look for them every year. This is NOT household ammonia, this is baking ammonia, and old time ingredient used to make the cookies rise. This link will take you to a recipe that looks and sounds much like the cookies I bought today.

The rain held off almost all day, but late in the afternoon the skies opened and dumped torrents of rain. Susan Sheppard of Parkersburg forged ahead with her reading, even though water was pooling at her feet.

Judi Tarowsky followed, and her husband of 44 years provided shelter for his wife. That's love, friends. (And believe me, both of them were a lot happier about it than the photo appears--what happens when I grab a quick snap with my phone sometimes.) I have to give props to Judi and Susan--real troupers, both of them, and great storytellers.

Now I am home and packing again for a week away at the fantastic Allegheny Echoes Music and Creative Writing Workshops (with a little break to do a program for the library in Lost Creek, WV). I have done some of my best writing at Echoes, and am looking forward to a week of evenings in a cabin on the banks of the Greenbrier River and days working with other writers to craft new work.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

The Folk Festival

The alarm went off at 7:00 am and I hit the floor. Where was I going? Back to the West Virginia State Folk Festival in Glenville, about an hour and a half from home. I'd been there yesterday to tell stories, then drove home because I had so much to do. This morning I was out the door early and on the road back to Glenville.

An hour and a half drive might seem like a distance, but in reality Glenville is only about 60 miles from my home. The road however, is two-lane and twists over steep hills and 45 mph is about the speed I could expect to make. The ridgetops were shrouded in fog blankets and the air was cool and clean after yesterday's rain (which did not, unfortunately make it to my place).

In Glenville, I went directly to the Oral Traditions Tent. I knew my friend, poet Kirk Judd, was up first this morning. He and I were the only ones in the tent at his start time so we just talked, about poetry, about the festival, about writing, about life. Then a few others showed up and Kirk began his set. He called up ghosts: the spirits of two great West Virginia poets who passed on this year joined us as Kirk offered a tribute to their memory.

The festival parade began and we watched a parade of ladies dressed in old-time dresses, antique cars, floats and horses pass by. Then it was my turn. This time I read my poems, moving from weather lore to gardens to grief and coal and home. Judi Tarowsky followed me with lovely deep stories of a steel mill town and a family reunion. Next was Becky Baldwin, sharing family memories of the Miners March and the coal mine wars of the 1930's.

We sat and talked afterward, about the miner's war (the only time we dropped bombs on our own people) and the feud (in West Virginia, that can only mean the Hatfields and McCoys). A young tattooed and pierced couple joined us, she in the last days of her first pregnancy. We spoke of omens, signs, witchery, ghosts, dreams and midwives. We told of strange happenings in our families, our communities, and to ourselves. We listened. In the doorways and on the street, banjos, fiddles, hammered dulcimers and guitars played as jam sessions struck up. I took no pictures; I was too involved to step outside into the photographer's role.

It was time for me to leave, though I was loathe to go. I knew the music and dancing would continue into the wee hours of morning. But I needed to go home, unpack and re-pack for next week's adventure. I needed to wash clothes, water my gardens, pay bills and catch up on email because next week I will have little or no access to the internet.

I drove back across the hills, slowly this time remembering the voices, the words, the stories, the faces, the music.



Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Storytelling and the WV State Folk Festival

Unknown musicians performing in a doorway at Glenville.

A big weekend coming up: Storytelling all day Friday, the WV State Folk Festival Oral Traditions tent (not to mention lots of good music!) in Glenville, WV on Saturday, my birthday AND Father's Day on Sunday, and storytelling all day Monday. Whew!

First is tomorrow morning, storytelling at the two libraries in my county. I've thought about what stories to share, worked on some new ones and I think I've got a good program ready to go. This will be the same program I will be using at several libraries this summer:

Since this summer's theme is Get Creative! , I've got lots of room for...creativity! Here are my choices:

Swapping Song-- this is a fun, interactive song that comes from the British Isles and was shortened a bit in the Appalachians.

Magic Paint Brush--a story from China. I will tell it using a whiteboard to draw the various parts of the story--not a draw and tell story, but more a story with illustrations. It teaches the benefit of helping others instead of serving your own greed, but like all good stories the message doesn't beat you over the head.

The Perfect Pet--this is an original story I wrote to go with my three dragon puppets, fairy puppet and king and queen puppet. I think it is going to be a lot of fun to tell. There is a participation chant and of course children from the audience will use the puppets to help tell the story.

How the Dog Chose its Master--a simple tale from India that allows audience participation and again, audience members using puppets to help tell the story.

The Tug of War-- a comic trickster tale from Australia. This story will again be audience participation and the only prop I need is a rope.

Bar the Door-an old British ballad that traveled to the mountains, this is funny and fun, with a lesson about being stubborn.

Fill Bowl! Fill! --a Jack tale from the Appalachian Mountains, and like all Jack tales great fun to tell and to listen to.

How the Vulture Got its Color--a tale from Burma that makes a point about vanity and gratefulness. This is the story I prepared as a flannelboard story, so children can help with the telling.

Aiken Drum--from Scotland, a story and a song about a funny little man. The original ballad was a political statement, but became a nonsensical children's song over the years. I tell the story of the brownie Aiken Drum who came to help out but was insulted by the gift of new clothes, then close the story with the song and a flannelboard. It's good fun and lots of participation in the song and flannelboard.

Of course, I may mix it up with a few alternate stories. I keep a ready supply to be sure what I tell is right for the audience in front of me. But I like this mix of world folktales, Appalachian stories and ballads, flannelboard stories and participation stories. I think it's going to be a lot of fun for all of us, listeners and storyteller.

Saturday is Glenville and the West Virginia State Folk Festival! Traditional mountain music, crafts, country people in town to celebrate, friends, and a lot more at the oldest folk festival in West Virginia. Click here and here to see my posts about last year's festival in Glenville.

So what does the festival have for writers and storytellers?

Plenty! The Oral Traditions Tent at the WV State Folk Festival in Glenville, WV this weekend will feature some of our state's best writers. Here's the schedule of presenters, and remember, the festival is free!

Fred Powers, telling last year as a coal miner. Powerful.

Friday, June 19th:
11am:Kirk Judd (poet)
12:00 Laura Treacy Bentley (poet)
2:00 pm Marc Harshman (poet, storyteller, writer)
3:00 pm Mountain Echoes (storytellers)

Saturday, June 20th:
10 am Fran Schmetzer (local Gilmer County author)
12:00 Susanna Holstein --that would be me :-) (storyteller, poet, writer)
3:00 pm Cat Pleska (storyteller and writer)
4:00 pm Suzi "Mama" Whaples (storyteller)

Here's a link to the festival: www.wvfolkfestival.org/

Will I see you there? I hope so!

Oh, and the birthday/Father's Day? I think we'll see in the summer solstice with a fire in the firepit and a few glasses of wine, then on Sunday morning we'll make pancakes with homemade strawberry syrup, drink coffee on the porch, and maybe get those cabbages in the freezer--and who knows? Maybe I'll get the kraut made too.

If that doesn't sound like a real celebration, remember that I work away from home most of the week, and for me this kind of day is a perfect celebration of why we live in the country.